The story starts off with the narrator explaining his relationship to Rael. He describes “the one in question”, Rael, is “all fully biodegradable material.” He mentions how he’s “putting one down to watch him break up, decompose and feed another sort of life.” This sounds like death to me. When you are buried, you do decompose and feed another sort of life like insects. He also mentions how he likes Rael, but Rael hates him. And the most interesting line of the opening paragraph is that”you won’t see me directly anymore – he hates me being around.”
Who is the narrator? Think about the title of the story, The LAMB Lies Down On Broadway. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is the narrator of the story. From the description, Rael obviously has lost faith during his plight.
Rael’s story starts during the early morning hours in New York. People are filing out of an all night movie theater. (The Times Square area is infamous for their all night porno theaters although the folks from Disney are changing that. Makes you think about the all night watchmen having their fun, doesn’t it?) Rael is coming from the subway, where he has spraypainted his name on the wall alongside the stairs of the subway entrance. This is part of making a name for himself. This is the only way he knows how. He know of no other means. He’s walking along on the street and the lamb enters the picture. “Meanwhile from out of the steam a lamb lies down. This lamb has nothing to do whatsoever to do with Rael or any other lamb – it just lies down on Broadway.” Why is the lamb there. Maybe He has to be present in someway during physical death. It’s a symbolic gesture.
Lyrics
“The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
Early morning Manhattan,
Ocean winds blow on the land.
The Movie-Palace is now undone,
The all-night watchmen have had their fun.
Sleeping cheaply on the midnight show,
It’s the same old ending-time to go.
Get out!
It seems they cannot leave their dream.
There’s something moving in the sidewalk steam,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
Nightime’s flyers feel their pains.
Drugstore takes down the chains.
Metal motion comes in bursts,
But the gas station can quench that thirst.
Suspension cracked on unmade road
The trucker’s eyes read ‘Overload’
And out on the subway,
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
Exits into daylight, spraygun hid,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
The lamb seems right out of place,
Yet the Broadway street scene finds a focus in its face.
Somehow it’s lying there,
Brings a stillness to the air.
Though man-made light, at night is very bright,
There’s no whitewash victim,
As the neons dim, to the coat of white.
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid,
Wipes his gun-he’s forgotten what he did,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
Suzanne tired her work all done,
Thinks money-honey-be on-neon.
Cabman’s velvet glove sounds the horn
And the sawdust king spits out his scorn.
Wonder women draw your blind!
Don’t look at me! I’m not your kind.
I’m Rael!
Something inside me has just begun,
Lord knows what I have done,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
On Broadway-
They say the lights are always bright on Broadway.
They say there’s always magic in the air.